Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



J. 0. SYMMES.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm. No. 22,094. Patent-dNov. 16,'1858.

PHOTOLITHDGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. n. c.

n 7 A 4 m v 1 la NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. SYMMES, OF WATERTOWN ARSENAL, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 22,094, dated November16, 1858.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN OLEvEs'SYMMEs, a lieutenant of the regulararmy, at present stationed at WVatertown Arsenal, county of Middlesex,State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Method ofPacking the Joints between the Breech and Barrel of Breech-Loading Guns;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, the like lettersreferring to like parts in all the difierent figures.

The nature of my invention consists in making the surfaces of either thebreech or barrel, where they lie together,of such shape that the effortof the gas under compression shall be, in general, not to push those twosurfaces apart so much as to push them the inner against the outer, andthus to close together against the passage of gas between them.

For the benefit of others Ithus describe my invention. The gas ofburningpowder propelling a ball in a gun will penetrate between thebreech and barrel, be they pressed however closely together by any meansthat may fit a portable arm. We are driven, therefore, to some means ofmaking the explodent force pack its own joint with some arrangementresembling a valve. Others have accomplished this in different Ways; butmine is delineated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a breech and barrel withmy arrangement for packing the joint between them. B represents thebreech hinged to the barrel at I. B is the barrel with the cartridge; KD H, the hammer; O, the cone. L and L are sections of the annular lip.

Now, if the cartridge K be exploded by the usual means, propelling theball D through the barrel, the powder-gas will pass equally all parts ofthe chamber, and the breech B will be forced appreciably backward; Ifthe lips L and L were rigidly connected with the barrel there must thenbe an escape for the gas between the breech B and the barrel B; but thethinness of the lip L L is such that it will partially yield to thepressure from within and will follow the slight recession of B, andremain in contact with it, both being equally pressed by the burninggas.

By reference to Figs. 2, 3, 3, and 4, various arrangements of the lip LL are seen. In Fig. 2 the lip is a part of the breech B. Figs. 3 and 3it is upon the barrel and protruding into the breech, while in Fig. 4itis upon the breech protruding into the barrel. Any two of thesearrangements may be combined when suitable.

It is better to have as great an extent of distance between the inneredge of the lip and the outer surface of the barrel or breech aspossible, as in Figs. 3, 3, and 4, for without the lip there would bevery little escape in either Figs. 3 or 4; but with the lip the escapeof gas is quite cut'off. The manner of hinging the breech as in Fig. 1would not do with Figs. 3 and 4, for in those cases the breech andbarrel should approach each other along a straight line. In Figs. 2 and4 thelip is made upon the breech.

I claim The elastic flexible lip substantially described above, howeverit may be applied to checking the escape of gas from the breech ofbreech-loading guns.

JNO. CLEVES SYMMES.

Witnesses:

- J os. WATERS,

GEO. HILL.

